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When Keith Richards called John Lee Hooker “heavy metal”
Eclectic isn’t a word that springs to mind when considering Keith Richards’ music taste. The Rolling Stones guitarist likes what he likes, and heavy metal, in his mind, is legendary blues musician John Lee Hooker.
Richards’ mother is responsible for his music taste, having indoctrinated him into loving jazz at an early age, a decision that led to an obsession with the blues. The guitarist grew up in a household where there was always music playing, and he’ll forever be indebted to those formative years.
Speaking to The Guardian in 2009, he said: “As I went on, I realised that I was brought up on a broad basis of blues music without even knowing it, so, in a way, I’m a result of what my mum played. I had a natural affinity for it, I think, so it wasn’t like a conscious thing or anything like that.”
As a teenager growing up in suburban London, it wasn’t easy to get your hands on great blues records. Instead, Richards had to rely on the occasional bits of Chuck Berry that he’d be drip-fed through the radio, but over time, he started to build up his collection and discover lesser-known artists such as John Lee Hooker.
Hooker’s style led him to be crowned as the ‘King of The Boogie’, and like many greats, he hailed from the Mississippi Delta. He was brought up on a sharecropping plantation where his stepfather, William Moore, provided moments of relief by playing the guitar, and he passed this skill onto Hooker. “Nobody can teach you, but I watched him night and day, and I played like him,” he once said.
In 1948, Hooker rose to prominence with ‘Boogie Chillen’, establishing him as a star of the scene. While he never became a superstar on a mainstream level like Richards, Hooker helped inspire the next generation of players and became one of the most respected guitarists around.
The Rolling Stones guitarist has praised Hooker many times, and during a 2021 radio interview with Planet Rock, Richards played DJ as he chose some of his favourite records of all time. To the surprise of no one, Richards’ set consisted of old-school blues favourites, which of course, consisted of a spot of Johnny Lee Hooker.
Richards also name-checked Hooker when he decided to take aim at metal in 2010 and said: “If you want heavy metal, listen to John Lee Hooker, listen to that motherfucker play. That’s heavy metal. That’s armour”.
While there’s nothing remotely heavy metal about Hooker’s distinct brand of music, Richards’ comment says more about his tunnelled perspective about what music should be rather than calling the late blues pioneer a metal musician.
